APB Meeting Summary 09202023 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

3 layer with our county GIS parcel layers, allowing us to really start work on the ground truthing questions about the accuracy of the data. We're discussing the various approaches to prioritize land for protection. The Lands Legacy program has tackled this issue and developed its own criteria. Discussion followed. Soil quality will be an important factor that has to be considered as a high priority for protection. Ortosky noted that this is a complex subject. What is it exactly that we're trying to preserve?The whole cultural landscape of farming and the rural landscape, or the most important resource, which is the prime farmland? For example, at Breeze Farm, maybe 30% of the 270 acres is considered prime farmland. The rest is either lower quality soil or steeper slopes. So just considering prime farmland won't necessarily protect the other aspects, like the cultural landscape or the important natural resources. Another way to approach this would be to evaluate the soil types and focus on the top-quality types wherever they appear. This type of approach has been used successfully on a large scale through the wetland evaluation and protection programs. Saiers will bring this back to the group to get your thoughts. e) Membership: Staff hasn't had luck yet finding a volunteer for the Schley/Eno district position. Perrin generated an updated email listing for the VAD farm owners in this district so staff will reach out to all of those landowners. Thanks to help from the County Clerk's office, Saiers was reappointed to her district position and can serve until 6/30/25. With McKnight rotating off, there will be a second district position for the White Cross district. We also have two vacant at-large positions with the recent resignation of Jim Fickle. The topic of a new chair was discussed. Hooten moved to appoint McAdams as the interim chair until our regular elections in March, seconded by Saiers; motion passed. McAdams offered to have the Farm Bureau sponsor the upcoming breakfast to free up funding for the of purchase additional VAD signs. 7. Informational Items/Future Agenda Items: a. Extension and Ag Economic Development Activities:The Ag grant program has increased by $50k more per year, up to $150 k. As of June 30 they are up to 108 grant awards. They're working on producing videos of some of the grant recipients to document their stories about farming. At Breeze Farm, they're up to four incubator farms, which is their capacity. The county is increasing its share for Breeze up to $50k, up from 10k. They have some new dry storage and have materials in place for a new steel truss pole barn. They're going to have to replace their ventilator fan in the greenhouse, at a cost of$3,000. They have a new advisory team with some former Breeze farmers on it that just met. 8. Time for Information Sharing: Hooten reported that the current effort to preserve the Gibson farm that was for sale in the Oaks Community has hit pause. It's likely that the appraised valuation was not acceptable to the seller. It's not completely closed but at the moment, but there isn't any activity. At least it's not on the market as of now. 9. Adjournment: Hooten moved to adjourn, seconded by Woods. Meeting adjourned at 7:55 pm.